About us

Maria Glover

BACPR President

Maria is an experienced nurse leader in cardiac rehabilitation with a strong track record of clinical excellence, service development, and strategic leadership. She serves on the BACPR Council, contributing to national strategy and supporting best practice in cardiac rehabilitation. Maria also chairs the Black Country Cardiac Rehabilitation Network (ICB), where she leads regional efforts to improve access, quality, and innovation in cardiovascular care. Passionate about health equity, prevention, and digital transformation, she actively contributes to research, service transformation, and multidisciplinary collaboration. Maria has successfully completed an MBA in Senior Leadership, with her dissertation focusing on digital healthcare in cardiac rehabilitation. Her research highlights the importance of innovation, collaboration, and prevention in shaping sustainable, patient-centred models of care. This academic achievement further strengthens her ability to drive system-level change and influence the future of cardiovascular health and rehabilitation across the UK.

BACPRPresident@bcs.com

Susan Casnello
BACPR Treasurer

Susan worked in the field of coronary care, where she developed an interest and passion for Cardiac Rehabilitation, which she has been involved with since 1992. She has worked in both Liverpool and Salford. She has worked as a clinical specialist nurse in Salford since 2000 and was the project lead for the British Heart Foundation funded menu development project for the service in Salford, between 2005 and 2008. This aimed to improve access, target the hard-to-reach groups and provide a service that meets the needs of the individual and their families.

Following this she returned to clinical practice within the Salford cardiovascular rehabilitation service, promoting individualised multi-modal service delivery, quality improvement and inclusion of PAD patients within the service. She is service lead for patient experience, NACR, policy, documentation, and digitalisation of the service and is a non-medical prescriber.

She brings to the role experience and a passion to raise the profile of cardiovascular rehabilitation. Her goal is to ensure services are able to offer an individualised service, using a range of delivery methods to all those with cardiovascular disease who would benefit.

She enjoys walking, cycling and skiing but especially spending time with her family.

Stephanie Wright
BACPR Honorary Secretary

Qualified from University of Teesside with Advanced Diploma in Nursing in 2003, and went on to complete the BSC in Adult Nursing in 2010 in which her dissertation explored examining reasons for non attendance in Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Steph has worked within the Cardiac speciality for 20 years with the last 13 years in Cardiac rehab and Heart Failure specialist nursing. Her current role is Cardiology Clinical Nurse Specialist for County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust leading on Cardiac Rehab for the south of the locality, and she has spent the last year working with NHS England as part of the Clinical Network as CR delivery lead for North East and North Cumbria.

Steph’s professional interests are Heart Failure and developing rehabilitation for this cohort of patient using a menu based approach advocating integration between HF and CR specialist nursing teams to improve access for HF patients. She has a vision of increasing multicondition rehabilitation that sees Cardiac, Pulmonary, Stroke, PAD rehabilitation services developing and working together and feels that being a member of the BACPR council will help continue to raise this profile

Steph’s most recent work with NENC Clinical network has seen her involved in supporting the CR targeted funding process, this has allowed her to raise the profile of CR with stakeholders and she hopes to continue to be able to do this and support other CR services to be able to do the same through her role on BACPR council.

BACPRSecretary@bcs.com

Dr Eddie Caldow
BACPR Research Lead/Scientific Officer

Eddie is currently BACPR Exercise Professionals Group chair, and BACPR's scientific officer. Eddie worked as a Clinical Exercise Physiologist in the NHS for 15 years working in two large Cardiovascular Rehabilitation and Prevention programmes. He currently works as a lecturer and researcher in Clinical Exercise Physiology at the University of Salford. Alongside research into exercise rehabilitation, Eddie also supports the long-term Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Programme at the university, a programme that he helped set up back in 2018.  

Over the years, Eddie has also been involved in other areas of clinical rehabilitation including peripheral artery disease (PAD), diabetes, pulmonary, cancer, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). 

Eddie a registered Clinical Exercise Physiologist with both the Academy of Healthcare Science and American College of Sports Medicine. 

Nikki Gardiner

Nikki works as a Clinical Lead for Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation/COPD and Home Oxygen Service within the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. She has been qualified as a registered nurse since 1990. Her specialisms have been mainly within the field of cardiac nursing, including working in Cardiology, Coronary Care Unit, Cardiac Surgery and Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation departments.

The last 18 years have been spent working within Cardiac Rehabilitation and more recently in a leadership role in Leicester. She recently gained an MSc in Advanced Health & Professional Practice at De Montfort University. She is also involved with many aspects of research, from design to delivery and evaluation, including NIHR funded projects. As part of a specialist nursing position, Nikki is involved in shaping the delivery of rehabilitation which includes the development of the South Asian service, the Breathlessness rehabilitation programme and web-based rehabilitation programmes such as Activate Your Heart ®and SPACE for COPD®. More recently she has been involved with the development of a local Covid Rehabilitation pathway and service which involves leading on an exercise and education and web-based programme.

Nikki’s professional interests are around service development and quality improvement; she has a passion to help improve access to Cardiac Rehabilitation, including offering patients a ‘menu of choice’ for all. Nikki is also an assessor for the Royal College of Physicians Pulmonary Rehabilitation Accreditation Scheme.

Kirsty Hughes

Kirsty is a Specialist Physiotherapist working in NHS Forth Valley in Central Scotland. She has over 10 years’ experience of working in cardiac rehabilitation and recently gained her independent prescribing qualification. This has reinforced her role in the holistic management of a variety of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Her professional interests include heart failure; promoting self-management and highlighting the specialist skills that physiotherapists can offer to achieve positive patient outcomes She is currently seconded to a unique post within the Heart Failure service, working alongside the specialist heart failure nurses with their inpatient and outpatient case load. Developing Advanced Practice Physiotherapy roles in cardiology is an exciting prospect in our profession and will further enhance the 21st century management of cardiac patients.

Janine O'Rourke

Janine qualified as a Registered Nurse in 2002 and has since worked in cardiology, on the coronary care unit, as a Heart Failure Specialist Nurse and for the past 10 years as Lead of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Service at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust. She is currently on secondment to NHS England as Cardiac Network Delivery Lead in North East and North Cumbria. Janine is a great advocate for Cardiac Rehabilitation in her ICS, and previously chaired the NENC Cardiac Rehabilitation network group as she understands the importance of services supporting and learning from each other.  Over the last two years Janine has completed an apprenticeship in Leadership and Management which she aims to use to ensure that Cardiac Rehabilitation services and workforce remain high on the national agenda.

Natalie Graham

Natalie has over 6 years’ experience of working in Cardiac Rehabilitation setting since graduating with a BSc (Sport and Exercise Science) and MSc (Clinical Exercise Physiology) from Liverpool John Moores University. She currently is an Exercise Specialist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and for the past 2 years has also lead a Phase IV Cardiac Rehabilitation programme, Ealing Cardiac Group Fitness. Natalie hopes that having experience in both the NHS and Phase IV setting will help to bridge the gap between the two services.

Natalie’s passion is around service development, and her main goal is to provide truly individualised programme to patients that are specific to their goals and suit their lifestyle. She hopes that the introduction of bespoke services and the use of technology will increase patient uptake and adherence to the Cardiac Rehabilitation programmes.

Marissa Plaza

Marissa is a HCPC-registered Physiotherapist with a MSc in Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation from the University of Chester.

Previously, Marissa has worked in clinical practice and academia as leader and lecturer of the Physiotherapy BSc at PUCESE University in Ecuador. Currently, she is investigating the experiences of people with SCAD in cardiac rehabilitation and the perspectives of healthcare professionals about this condition as part of her PhD at Edge Hill University, where she is also a Graduate teaching assistant in the modules of Biological Science and Applying evidence to Clinical Practice at the Faculty of Health, Social care and Medicine.

Her professional and research interests include SCAD, improving access to cardiac rehabilitation, women’s cardiovascular health, physical activity and behaviour change.

Amye Goddard

Amye is a Senior Specialist Physiotherapist with passion for Cardiac Rehabilitation and has worked within the field since 2005. Originally employed to develop Heart Failure Rehabilitation at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, her role has evolved to include the following initiatives:- Web based Activate Your Heart now I-IMPACT, Fit for Surgery Prehabilitation, Breathlessness and COVID Rehabilitation. Amye was part of the core team developing 2 digital platforms for Your COVID Recovery in conjunction with NHSE and other National Governing Bodies. Active involvement within research alongside clinical duties has facilitated further development around stroke, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure and multi long term conditions rehabilitation.

This year Amye achieved 26 years’ NHS service and her experience has enabled her to build on clinical and leadership skills, currently part of the Chartered Management Institute programme for Strategic management and leadership for the future of healthcare. She co-manages the Cardiac Rehabilitation Service at UHL.

Julie Hinchliffe

Julie graduated with a PGDip in Nutrition and Dietetics at Leeds Met University.  She has over 15 years’ experience working in cardiovascular rehabilitation at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust developing the weight management and dietary component of the service to BACPR standards and national guidelines. She is an active member of the BACPR and BACPR diet working group and enjoys being involved with research and audits.  She strives to promote the role of the dietitian in cardiovascular rehab and the benefits that our profession can bring to the multi-disciplinary team, patients and their families.

James Whitfield

Since completing my BSc degree in Exercise Physiology in 2003 and BACPR exercise instructor the same year, I have worked in community Phase 4/Stage 6 rehab and since 2015 as an Exercise Physiologist in Warrington & Halton Hospitals, Cardiac Rehab Dept, the last 4 years, Full Time as the team manager. Alongside this I work as a freelance tutor on a range of courses. With a Sport and Exercise background especially in rugby.

I bring to the role, experience of delivering Cardiac Rehab from inpatient to community settings and teaching professionals in exercise instruction. I enjoy sharing knowledge, mentoring and educating health professionals in the development, delivery and assessment of evidence-based, individualised programmes of prevention and rehabilitation. Being in a clinical and management position, bring knowledge and understanding from an acute hospital to the role. In my clinical role I tend to get patients referred with high level sport or exercise backgrounds, to help get them back to fitness.

I have been involved in a number of pilots and changes in my career, most recently integrating Liverpool Heart & Chest psychologists into our team for a 12 month NHS England funded pilot.

I am currently on a two year MBA Masters in senior leadership, due to complete in Jan 2027.

Mark Griffiths

Mark began his clinical career in 1998 and has a long history of working within the areas of clinical health psychology and clinical neuropsychology.

He has been a Consultant Clinical Psychologist since 2006, and his career has seen him working across a variety of medical areas and undertaking multiple senior clinical leadership roles over the course of his career. He has a long track record of clinical service innovation, of developing and leading specialist hospital and community-based rehabilitation services and of supporting clinical pathway re-design and improvement, to improve psychological and neuropsychological care.

Mark has a long career of working across multiple medical areas, specialising in the psychological treatment of Cardiac and Cardiovascular disease,  and in Stroke neuropsychological rehabilitation.

Mark joined Liverpool Heart & Chest Hospital in 2020 as the Lead Consultant for Psychology Services/ Trust Lead for Psychology Services.  He leads a team providing specialist psychological rehabilitation services in:  Cardiology, Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ACHD), Cystic Fibrosis, Critical Care and  Community Respiratory Services and has also led the development of new models of psychological care in Cardiac Rehabilitation. Within this role he also undertakes lead roles regionally and nationally.

Mark was the Clinical Lead to the Cheshire & Merseyside Cardiac Rehabilitation Psychology Project between 2022 and 2025 and has previously held positions as Psychology Advisor to the NHS England National Stroke Programme from 2018 to 2021 and was the BPS Representative on the Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party from 2021 to 2024 (contributing to the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke, 2023).

As well as his role on the BACPR council, Mark currently holds several other professional leadership roles within the British Psychological Society:  as workforce lead for BPS Faculty of Clinical Health Psychology, as Co-lead of the Stroke Workstream of the BPS Division of Neuropsychology and as BPS representative to the Community Rehabilitation Alliance.

• Sundhya Raman and Xenophon Kassianides - Primary Care Representatives

• Lisa Spratt - Northern Ireland Representative

• Claire Dobson - British Heart Foundation (BHF) Representative

• Sarah Brown - Cardiovascular Care Partnership UK/ Patient Representative (CCP UK)

• Vicki Hatch - Exercise Instructor Network (EIN) Chair

• Eddie Caldow - Exercise Professionals Group (EPG) Chair

• Prof Patrick Doherty - National Audit of Cardiac Rehabilitation (NACR) Representative

• TBC - British Society for Heart Failure (BSH) Representative

• Dr Sheona McHale - BHF Clinical Research Collaborative (BHF CRC) Representative

• Esther Arnold & Fang Feng Ting - British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care (BANCC) Representatives

• Joanna Abramik - British Junior Cardiologists' Association (BJCA) Representative

• Isabella Salzano
  BCS Affiliate Societies Coordinator
  bacpr@bcs.com

• Sally Hinton
  BACPR Executive Director
  shinton@bacpr.com

• Vivienne Stockley
  BACPR Education Coordinator
  education@bacpr.com

• Penny Hudson
  BACPR Education Administrator
  accounts@bacpr.com

• Dr Aynsley Cowie
  BACPR Education & Training Lead
  ACowie@bacpr.com

• Dr Hugh Bethell (1993-1995)

• Helen Stokes (1995-1997)

• Dr Jane Flint Bridgewater (1997-1999)

• Dr Andrew McLeod (1999-2000)

• Ann Ross (2000-2003)

• Dr Malcolm Walker (2003 - 2005)

• Bernadette Downey, MBE (2005 - 2007)

• Prof Patrick Doherty (2007 - 2009)

• Prof John Buckley (2009 - 2011)

• Dr Jenni Jones (2011 - 2013)

• Prof Gill Furze (2013 - 2015)

• Dr Joe Mills (2015 - 2017)

• Dr Scott Murray (2017 - 2019)

• Prof Susan Dawkes (2019 - 2021)

• Dr Kathryn Carver (2021 - 2023)

• Heather Probert (2023 - 2025)